I calculated that with overpriced hotels, rail fares and assorted expenses, taking part in the run was going to cost somewhere in the region of £500.

That's a hell of a lot of money for a trip to Tyneside -- especially as the general consensus seems to be that the hordes of out-of-shape fun runners clogging the roads and a finishing line in the wilderness of South Shields can make the day something of a nightmare.

Friday, February 24, 2006

The BBC produces some strange and anachronistic programmes but few are as strange as Calling The Falklands.

The twice-weekly programme began in 1944, and became a crucial source of news during the Argentinian invasion in 1982.

I've even reported for the programme myself in the dim and distant past.

There's something about the idea of a programme produced in the heart of London for an audience of a few thousand sheep farmers and squaddies in the furthest corner of the British Empire that appeals to every radio anorak.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Iraq, as a recent report by the Committee to Protect Journalists made clear, has become the deadliest conflict for journalists for 25 years.

The journalists working in Baghdad at the moment are seeking to make working lives a little safer by setting up a Foreign Press Association.

The association would act as a central point of contact for the authorities, a forum for pooling information and safety advice and a single voice for the foreign press working in Iraq.

The costs of setting up the FPAI -- offices, translators etc -- would be modest and each press organisation is being asked to contribute to the start-up costs.

Here's where the problems start.

Some multi-million dollar outfits -- who are perfectly prepared to send their staff on the most dangerous assignment in the world -- are balking at the prospect of contributing just a few thousand dollars to help set up an organisation that could one day save the lives of journalists working in the field.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

On the corner of a busy junction in Acton that I pass twice a day during my cycle to and from work a small shrine of flowers and cards has sprung up alongside police signs appealing for witnesses to a "fatal incident."

The programmes on offer as part of the BBC's podcasting trial have become permanent fixtures on my iPod -- giving me a chance to catch up with From Our Own Correspondent, Sportsweek and the World Service documentary archive during my weekly run along the Thames.

Now, the trial is set to expand, with a wealth of new programmes being added to the mix.

Never mind the Jeremy Paxman download -- the BBC Southern Counties Radio Brighton and Sussex Breakfast Show is coming soon to an MP3 player near you.

A few months back I entered the ballot for the Great North Run, the world's biggest half marathon.

I've just been told I've secured a place in the race -- but now I can't decide whether to take it.

It's not the distance that bothers me -- it's the question of whether I want to spend a weekend on Tyneside, running through overcrowded streets and staying in a hotel which has been marked up exorbitantly for the race.